New Delhi, Apr 9 (UNI) India and the Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan on Friday agreed to step up defence industrial cooperation and mutual capacity building.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held talks with visiting Kazakh Defence Minister Lieutenant General Nurlan Yermekbaye.
They agreed that both sides must look at the possibility of co-production and co-development in defence production. Kazakhstan has expressed its interest in the joint production of aerospace equipment.
The two sides are also interested in repair, maintenance and upgrade of the military equipment and setting up joint ventures.
India and Kazakhstan established a strategic partnership in 2009. Kazakh-Indian military cooperation is executed within an agreement on “Defence and Military Technical Cooperation” signed in 2015 during the visit of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kazakhstan.
The two ministers exchanged views to further strengthen bilateral defence cooperation, including through training and defence exercises.
Bilateral cooperation in the defence sector has strengthened over the last few years with programmes in military education and training, such as Youth Exchange Programme (YEP) between cadet corps, as well as annual joint military exercises.
Lt Gen Yermekbayev thanked India for deploying Kazakh troops in the Indian battalion in United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
They agreed that both sides must look at the possibility of defence industrial collaboration of mutual interest.
Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar,and Secretary, Defence Production, Raj Kumar were present on the occasion.
The two ministers had last met in Moscow on September 5, 2020 on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers' meeting.
UNI SRJ